Monthly Archives: March 2008

A National Press Club invite to see senior advisors  all with impressive resumes  from the three presidential campaigns talk about trade issues in the wake of the NAFTA uproar a few weeks ago! How could I possibly…

U.S. Fire Administrator Greg Cade announced this week that his agency is officially adopting the position that all homes should be protected by residential fire sprinklers. Only fire sprinklers can detect fire AND automatically control it  affording families the…

This week brought us a few key indicators: consumer spending, durable goods orders and home sales (both new and existing). Although the personal consumption report showed income growth accelerating at the same time inflation was easing, consumers apparently remained a…

Were not talking about the 1989 Ramones album (though it might make an interesting soundtrack here) nor even the classic concept of an emigration of trained and talented individuals from one nation to another due to lack of opportunity, conflicts,…

At an IEEE PES Transformer Committee meeting I attended recently, there was a discussion on the impact of the DOE transformer efficiency rule for Medium-Voltage Dry-Type and Liquid-Immersed distribution transformers on core steel. It is expected that there will be…

Trusting the marketplace is out and regulation is in. So suggests a front-page Wall Street Journal story on March 24. The idea that less regulation is better for the economy has held sway in Washington since the Reagan administration, the…

Last week we submitted comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement between this country and our principal trading partners. With counterfeiting in the electrical equipment industry a growing problem worldwide, the idea…

A hectic, roller-coaster week (yet mercifully short) on equity markets as everyone digested Bear Stearns collapse and its possible outcomes, a large interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and piles of cash shifting away from commodities. On the data…

Not many in the business community would readily call the EPA "rational." So let me be among the first. Inside EPA (subscription only) and eNewsUSA both report that the agency that brought us regulation without cost-benefit analysis has determined the…

The South Dakota Electrical Commission is under attack by the South Dakota Home Builders Association to amend the AFCI provisions in the 2008 National Electrical Code adoption. The Commission is having a rules hearing April 25, 2008 at 10:00a.m. at…